This large building is the monastery church.
It’s a place of Protestant Christian faith and for prayer.
Here, you’ll find people like Deacon Hendrik Bahrenburg. He’s a creative mind who organizes many activities and retreats for children and teenagers. Many young people know him through confirmation. Confirmation is a special ceremony marking the transition from childhood to adulthood within the church. Hendrik supports the confirmands during their preparation and on the day of the confirmation ceremony.
The church hosts services for various occasions. These are gatherings where people come to feel closer to God.
The church community also includes:
Two church-run daycare centers
Parent-child programs
The “Children’s Church Afternoon,” a monthly form of children’s service
Youth work within the church and the YMCA, including camps, youth groups, day events, and online activities
Wow, what a sound! The sound of an organ. The vibrant church music invites you to join the Bach Choir or Chamber Choir, children’s and youth choirs, and regular concerts.
An organ is a musical instrument with many pipes made of metal or wood. Air flows through these pipes to produce sound. (If the church is open, you can take a look at this impressive instrument in person!)
This monastery church is almost as old as the town of Lilienthal itself. Building such a massive stone church took 12 years. A monastery is a place where people live together in a community focused on practicing their faith.
The town of Lilienthal grew around the monastery connected to this church, named “Mary in the Valley of Lilies,” which gave the town its name. Over the centuries, the church was expanded and rebuilt multiple times.
Amazingly, after 400 years, the Lilienthal Monastery was dissolved. Most of the monastery complex was torn down, but the monastery church was left standing. The stones from the monastery were reused to construct other buildings—a kind of early recycling. Some buildings still show traces of the monastery today.
Can you spot any buildings that might have been built using stones from the monastery?
Next to the monastery church and the town hall is the Amtsgarten, our next stop.
More info:
https://www.kirchengemeinde-lilienthal.de
